Skyrim gets PC extras; Battlefield 3 won't have mod tools

Earlier this year, Bethesda confirmed that the upcoming Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim would come with mod tools. According to an interview with members of the development team, modding will be restricted to the PC version of the game, which will also come with a few additional perks. PC gamers will enjoy "higher res textures, larger render modes, and a bunch of other effects you can scale up if your machine is a beast." And there was much rejoicing.

There's more, too. Skyrim's interface looks to have been optimized for PCs: giant fonts are out, and more information has reportedly been squeezed onto the screen. The controls are also "entirely different" from console versions of the game.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun pointed me to the interview, and it also has fresh information on another eagerly anticipated PC release: Battlefield 3. The news here isn't good, however. EA's Patrick Söderlund has revealed that the next chapter in the Battlefield franchise won't come along with modding tools—at least to start. Apparently, the Frostbite engine is simply "too big of a challenge" for modders to tackle. Söderlund chooses his words carefully, leaving the door open for modding tools to be made available down the road.

Having spent most of my time in Battlefield 1942 immersed in the Desert Combat mod, I can only hope that EA decides to open up Battlefield 3 for tinkering. Let the modding community decide whether the game is too complex to bend to its will.